Review Blog

Apr 24 2017

Me and you by Deborah Kelly and Karen Blair

Viking, 2017. ISBN 9780670079247
There are many people in a child's life - parents, siblings,
grandparents, aunties, uncles, cousins, neighbours, best friends,
parents' friends, pets . . . and that's before they even venture
into the world of preschool and big school! And the shape of the
relationship with each one is different. In this new book by Deborah
Kelly, as softly illustrated as its focus, the connections are
explored and enjoyed - the arty-crafty days; the yummy-scrummy days;
the pedal-pushing days; the silly-billy days; the sandy-sandwich
days; the footy-playing days; the slippery-sliding days; the
grubby-garden days; the woofy-wagging days; the handy-helper days;
the sausage-sizzling days; the stretchy-yawning days - all mixing,
matching and melding together to enrich the child's life and cocoon
them in love. Apart from the variety of adventures that the child
has and the reader will resonate with, the richness of the language
and its rhyme, rhythm and repetition will engage and perhaps even
encourage the young reader/listener to start thinking about the
relationships they have and starting to describe them using similar
language. Primarily aimed at the preschooler, this book could also
have traction with older students as an extension of learning about
friendships so they move from thinking about what makes a friend and
how to be one but also the types of relationships they have with
those in their lives. For example, the relationship with their
parents will be different from that with their teacher, and that
with other children can be shaped by age, expertise and even power.
Discussing why we are friends with particular people (or aspire to
be), how friends should make us feel and where we fit in others'
lives brings confidence and builds empathy and resilience when
things don't work out.
Many parents seem to be deeply concerned about the friendships their
children make particularly when the meetings are beyond parental
control - as evidenced by this request to an international email
group where a parent was looking for books about "choosing the
"right" friends. She has requested that there be African American
characters and she is concerned that he [bright son] seems to be
choosing friends who are in the lower academic classes." By sharing
Me and You older children might examine the friendships they have
and what holds them together; debate the notion of "right friends";
discuss how a variety of friends who bring different circumstances,
skills and attitudes can enrich our lives; and begin to understand
the role and influence that friends have in their lives as well as
their position in the lives of their friends. Such understanding may
well offer valuable insight into their connections with other people
now and in the future, helping them to make the sorts of choices
their parents would be happy with or defending those that they
wouldn't.
Perhaps author and illustrator just wanted to share the joy of being
a child with all its fun and activity, but for me the best picture
books work across a number of levels and delve deeper than the
immediate storyline and pictures and therefore this one works very
well.
Barbara Braxton